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Clinton & Trump Enter Final Stretch Of Campaign; Poll: Clinton Holds 20-Point Advantage Among Women Voters; U.S. Troops & Coalition Closing In On Mosul; AT&T To Acquire Time Warner In $85 Billion Deal; Trump Takes Aim At First Lady Michelle Obama. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 24, 2016 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[07:30:00] REP. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R), TENNESSEE: And let's bring economic prosperity all across this country, into our rural areas and into underserved areas.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Congressman Israel, what is Hillary Clinton's case?

REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D), NEW YORK: Two things. Number one, you've seen Donald Trump as a candidate. Is this the man you want to be your president? And secondly, let's end the gridlock in Washington. Let's elect a president, a House, and a Senate that will pass a bill to finance infrastructure, that will end secret money in politics, that will pass comprehensive immigration reform and unite the country.

CUOMO: What is the specific case to be made to these following two poll categories, CongressmanBlackburn? Let's put up the numbers with white men -- whites, in general, and women. So we have women here first, 20 points. Trump had been trying to break into that -- hasn't. If anything, it's gone up a little bit. What's the case for women?

BLACKBURN: National security and economic security are the top two issues with women. They are the top two issues in the poll this year and I think that's where Trump needs to put his emphasis. How do you make this country safe again? How do you get a handle on what is happening with ISIS?

Making certain that we are funding our military. I have a large military post in my district and they are very concerned about the lack of accountability from Hillary Clinton on the emails. If their spouse mishandled one classified email on one mobile device they'd face court martial, so they're really unhappy with that.

CUOMO: Congressman Israel, how do you respond to that and why do you believe Hillary Clinton is ahead with women?

ISRAEL: Chris, first of all, I just returned from Asia, visiting our bright men and women throughout Asia. I'll tell you, you don't support the military by calling the military a disaster, which Donald Trump did. You don't have a plan to defeat ISIS by saying that you have -- that you're smarter than the generals.

I agree with Marsha -- and I respect Marsha -- that national security is an important issue across the board. Not just with women but across the board, which means you need a president who is ready to lead and has the experience to do so. Donald Trump's not the person.

CUOMO: The white vote -- let's put up the numbers on that. Mitt Romney had a much bigger portion of this population than Donald Trump does right now. Congressman Blackburn, what do you think this group is feeling differently right now and what would you like to say to change their minds?

BLACKBURN: I think so many people are just undecided. We have two deeply flawed individuals at the top of each ticket and they're waiting to see some of the proposals that are going to come forward on the economic security, on how we're going to handle securing the southern border, and make certain that we end illegal entry, whether it is human trafficking, sex trafficking, drug trafficking. They also want to make certain that the opioid issue is dealt with.

CUOMO: Congressman, this is part of Hillary Clinton's reaching out to this -- you know, this mythical group in polling called the college- educated white voter. What is that outreach, in your opinion?

ISRAEL: Well, look, she is reaching out not just to college-educated white voters, but voters who don't have a college education. You know, I don't think that, you know, you have one issue that is defined for one segment of voters. There are an abundance of issues.

Here are the priorities that I think voters have. Number one, jobs and paychecks. Let's build infrastructure, put people back to work. Number two, national security. Hillary Clinton has a plan, Donald Trump does not. Number three, comprehensive immigration reform. It's time to protect our borders but also create a path for people who are contributing to our economy.

And finally, end, once and for all -- end that secret money in politics which is driving people crazy. They believe that they're priced out of democracy. One party in Washington is willing to pass the DISCLOSE Act to require transparency -- that's the Democrats. The other party -- Marsha Blackburn's party -- has stopped that bill from passing. They continue to allow dark money into politics.

CUOMO: All right, let's quickly deal with the negatives for both with each of you now. I'll start with you, Congressman Israel. Your candidate -- the negative would be she's not the person to deal with money in the process. She loves money in the process. She gets more money than anybody else. And to the extent that these issues require trust of a candidate her numbers speak for themselves, whether it's the email scandal or the any of the other things that have been attached to her, she cannot be trusted. Your case?

ISRAEL: Look, she has -- she's the only candidate of the two who supports the DISCLOSE Act, who wants to end secret and dark money in politics, who has a plan to do so. Donald Trump does not. I think this election really comes down to who is fit to lead, who is fit to be president. Donald Trump, across every issue and on almost every day, has established he's not ready to lead. He is temperamentally unfit.

People make their decisions on president based on that. There's no surprise that Hillary Clinton is doing so well in the polls.

CUOMO: And, obviously, the criticism for you is something that we see play out almost every day -- that Donald Trump has said the worst things about so many different groups of people that we've seen in the modern electoral era. Look at -- I didn't have to look at your record because I've known you for years, but you've never said any of the kinds of things that Donald Trump says.

[07:35:05] BLACKBURN: Nor would I.

CUOMO: Why would people -- and yet, you're backing him for president so how do you explain to people that negative? That even though you would never say the things that this man says, you think he should be president.

BLACKBURN: Because you're looking at the future of our country. Hillary Clinton has called basket of deplorables -- so many Americans she has put into that basket of deplorables. She and Barack Obama have made a mess of what is going on in the Middle East. The Iran deal is not serving us well. You can look at the red line in Syria which wasn't a red line -- the mess that is there. What happened in Benghazi and Libya, and the fact that she lied to those families and has not gone back to rectify that situation.

The Clinton Foundation -- using that as a way to pull money from countries. Look at what has just come out about Morocco and what the situation that was there with contributions to The Clinton Foundation. People know that they cannot trust Hillary Clinton to come forward and to be truthful about what is going on.

What they have seen from Donald Trump -- and his speech this weekend spoke to it beautifully -- a plan for how to move forward. The things he's going to do in the first 100 days to put that focus on economic security, national security. To work for child care and allow some tax credits that are there. People are ready to see this country turn a corner. They want to get --

CUOMO: So --

BLACKBURN: -- back on a path to prosperity and at this point, Chris, we're not there. And when it comes to dark money, there's an article in "The Wall Street Journal" today -- more billionaires getting to Hillary Clinton and have put millions of dollars into her campaign.

CUOMO: So, for your side it's going to come down to the message versus the messenger. And for the Democrats --

BLACKBURN: If you want change, you're for Trump. If you want the status quo, you're for Clinton.

CUOMO: We'll see.

BLACKBURN: Yes.

CUOMO: Congressman Blackburn, thank you very much.

BLACKBURN: Good to be with you.

CUOMO: Congressman Israel, appreciate you both making the case. Thank you.

ISRAEL: Thank you.

CUOMO: Telling, as always.

BLACKBURN: Good to see you, Steve.

ISRAEL: You bet.

CUOMO: Alisyn --

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Chris. Over to Iraq. Iraqi-led forces closing in on Mosul. They're trying to push out ISIS, so what is the status of the battle? We'll take you live to the front lines, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:40] CAMEROTA: Kurdish Peshmerga forces reportedly within five miles of Mosul, Iraq. A coalition of 100,000 troops are trying to free the city from ISIS control. This weekend, defense secretary Ash Carter flew to Iraq to assess the battle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Nothing that I take more seriously than putting Americans in harm's way. Make no mistake, whether they're flying airplanes overhead or whether they're advising units on the ground, even behind the front lines, they are at risk. It's also important everybody understands that we must do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Let's bring in CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr and CNN international anchor and correspondent Michael Holmes, who is near Mosul.

Michael, let me start with you. What is the situation in and around Mosul this morning?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. As you know, Alisyn, the Iraqis and the Kurdish Peshmerga are trying to sort of encircle Mosul, get everyone on the same page and the same sort of distance from the city before they can even think about going in.

You mentioned how close they are. The most forward position is about seven or eight miles. That's the Peshmerga in the north. They're making progress, too, from the south -- the southeast. But not so much from the west.

We're just outside Bashiqa, where Kurdish Peshmerga forces mounted an operation yesterday -- came in on two fronts, surrounded this very strategically important area. The town and eight different villages -- 100 square kilometers -- and waited it out overnight before they started probing this morning.

And it was interesting. We could hear small arms fire, there were rockets going in, and then it was quiet. Now, what we've been told is that they've been encountering those suicide car and truck bombs that have been such a problem. One hundred and thirty of them have been destroyed during this campaign so far.

They were also up against snipers. They've all been quiet for a few hours. And I can tell you, in the last hour or so a lot of mortars, a lot of rockets, and also aircraft in the air over Bashiqa. So, obviously, targets are being acquired and taken out so those Peshmerga can move in. And then, this all goes to that whole point of trying to encircle where they have not encircled.

We're also hearing that ISIS families -- family members, ISIS fighters, and even ISIS leaders have been leaving Mosul and heading for Syria. We're hearing that from a senior Sunni tribal leader. And they're getting out through ISIS-controlled territory toward Syria, so that's a worrying development, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. So, Barbara, what's the assessment from the Pentagon on how this is going?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now they feel that these Iraqi and Peshmerga forces are pretty much on schedule, on target. This is what was anticipated, that they would approach Mosul from the north and the southeast.

What Michael is pointing out is very key, of course, because it is to the west of Mosul that ISIS still controls territory. And they have known for several days that ISIS operatives, ISIS leaders in the area would try and get out of the city, move west, and try and get across the border in Syria.

But essential to keep after Mosul. This is the place where Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared his caliphate. This is the place the U.S. very much wants to boot ISIS out of and, really, destroy that perception, even, that there is an ISIS caliphate -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Barbara, one more before I turn back to Michael. Donald Trump tweeted about this battle going on. He says, "The attack on Mosul is turning out to be a total disaster. We gave them months of notice. U.S. is looking so dumb. VOTE TRUMP and WIN AGAIN!" Has the Pentagon commented on this?

STARR: No, and don't expect them to. Ash Carter is adamant that no one at the Pentagon will comment on the presidential election for either candidate.

Mr. Trump has been very vocal that he believes the goods have been given away by announcing that the Mosul campaign would be underway. That is something the Iraqis very much wanted. They wanted their people and their military to know that they -- and the world -- that they were going after ISIS. It was not a big secret. The feeling is, you know, look at that airpower. The coalition still has a very significant advantage, Alisyn. CAMEROTA: Michael, any word on timeframe and whether or not this is going as anticipated, and how long it will take?

[07:45:00] HOLMES: You speak to Iraqi commanders, you speak to Peshmerga -- in fact, U.S. officials, as Barbara knows, they all say that this is going on schedule or ahead of schedule. In fact, it has been remarkably quick. That's not to say there hasn't been resistance, there's been a lot of it.

And one other thing. You know, I've been coming to Iraq since the start of the war and when the U.S. was going through places they would do what they called "clear and hold". They would clear the town or the village and then they would hold it. Now, what you're having with such a rapid move through these towns and villages is a lot of ISIS fighters are being left behind.

There was a case that we heard of today where Iraqi forces moved through a village. Villagers who were still there came out and celebrated -- cheered those soldiers. And then once the soldiers are gone ISIS fighters who'd been in hiding came out and killed 40 of those villagers who'd been celebrating.

So, you make a rapid advance you're not always clearing and holding, and sometimes you're leaving some bad guys behind.

CAMEROTA: Michael, that's a terrible, terrible story. Thank you for the reporting on it and for being there for us. Barbara, thank you for the reporting. Obviously, we will check back with both of you -- Chris.

CUOMO: There's a lot of enhanced optimism about Clinton's chances in this election. Is it really too late for Donald Trump to turn things around? We're going to take a look at where the race is and why it is there. The eleventh hour surge -- is it possible? Michael Smerconish will talk about it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:35] CUOMO: It's time for my mother's favorite part of the show, "CNNMONEY Now". AT&T and Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, agreeing to an $85 billion merger deal. Chief business correspondent Christine Romans has more in the money center. Great interview this morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Thank you. Good morning, Mrs. Cuomo, by the way. It's one of the biggest media deals ever, a union of programming and distribution. AT&T's wireless network combined with household names like CNN, HBO, TNT, Warner Brothers Studio. This merger, the largest of its kind since Comcast bought NBC Universal back in 2011.

This an even bigger deal which means it will face a lengthy review by regulators. The Department of Justice and the FCC were criticized for approving that Comcast deal and the government has blocked several proposed company tie-ups in the past few years. Both companies, though -- they are confident here. They defend this

proposed deal. They explain it gives consumers what they want -- more shows and video on their phones, adding that this is not a merger between similar companies. Instead, Time Warner is an entertainment company that will provide content to AT&T -- AT&T, a 140-year-old telecommunications giant -- guys.

CAMEROTA: OK, Christine, thanks so much. What does you mom have against us?

CUOMO: It's not that she's against -- she loves you. Me, she's sideways. But she just likes Christine and she likes the business stuff. She feels it's like pure information.

CAMEROTA: Who can blame her? Christine is --

CUOMO: I can. I make the case against Christine on a regular basis, I just always lose.

ROMANS: On and off the air, yes.

CAMEROTA: Got it, got it. Thanks, Christine.

All right, just two weeks until Election Day. Donald Trump's campaign has a different take on the polls, sometimes even from each other. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: We are behind so our advantage going in -- we were behind one, three, four points in some of these swing states that Mitt Romney lost to President Obama. Chuck, our advantage is that Donald Trump is just going to continue to take the case directly to the people.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are leading nationally by two points. Numbers are looking phenomenal in Florida, don't believe the media. But even the media is giving pretty good numbers, they can't help it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: It's like Macklemore. Record companies out here can't tell me nothing. Take it to the people. Spread it across the country.

CAMEROTA: I love when you go full Macklemore. That's so great. Joining us now is CNN political commentator and host of CNN's "SMERCONISH", Michael Smerconish. Hi, Michael.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: OK, so to what does Donald Trump credit his optimism in terms of the polls? Let me show you the latest "ABC NEWS" poll that came out yesterday. It shows Hillary Clinton with a double-digit lead. She has 50 percent to his 38 percent. So when he says we're winning hugely with the polls, what's he talking about? SMERCONISH: I have no idea. That ABC survey is really insightful because, Alisyn, the last time they ran this analysis she was up by four. Now that lead has grown to 12. And if you look at the issues that have dominated the last week or 10 days, all of them are backfiring against him.

In other words, he's facing a triple threat. His response to his accusers, 69 percent disagree with how he's responded to the entire question of treatment versus women. His refusal to accept the outcome is also costing him. And his charges that this is a rigged election are also problematic with voters.

Well, those really have been the predominant matters that we've discussed in the last week or 10 days so it's not been a good time period for Donald Trump. And, candidly, it's very difficult for me to see any path that gets him to 270 electoral votes.

CUOMO: Well, here are words we haven't been saying to you very often in this cycle. You are right -- the number of --

SMERCONISH: Thank God.

CUOMO: The threshold number, Michael. You have been saying look at these polls. The eyes always go to that he can't over 40, he can't get over 40. And now, you're pinning the personal trait to that. Marsha Blackburn just came on with Steve Israel -- Blackburn's a Republican -- to make the case for each side. When I hit her with the negatives of her candidate, which are largely personal ones, she said nothing in defense. She went right to why Clinton is bad. That's telling.

SMERCONISH: Listen, you talked to Mark Preston earlier in the program about what's going on down-ballot. You went to commercial break. Here I am in Philly. The first commercial that popped up on the screen was Pat Toomey who is hanging on for dear life in the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race. And the first line out of his mouth in the commercial is I disagree with lots of things that Donald Trump is saying and doing this cycle, which I think is really telling because each of them now -- the Republicans are trying to distance themselves from their nominee. Not a good sign if you're Donald Trump.

[07:55:00] CAMEROTA: But when you say Pat Toomey is hanging on for dear life, is that because of Donald Trump?

SMERCONISH: Definitely because of Donald Trump because, you know -- I don't know if you remember "Pretzel Logic". It was a Steely Dan song or album a long time ago. But that's what he reminds me of. He's trying to have -- be all things to all people. He can't afford to lose that Trump core constituency because they are the GOP base. And yet, if he doesn't somehow draw a line in the sand then Trump is going to take him down in Pennsylvania.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about women. The latest "ABC NEWS" poll shows that Hillary Clinton, I believe, is up by -- yes, there you go -- 20 points with women, 55 to 35 percent, Donald Trump. So, I mean, you know -- CUOMO: This was supposed to be one of the main aspects of his outreach. Now it sounds like a joke but several months ago that was the whole cherish women thing and having Ivanka get out there. It just hasn't happened.

SMERCONISH: It's even worse than that 20 percent figure because among college-educated white women -- suburban women like those who live around me -- the deficit is 32 points. And that's why -- you know, it's perplexing. I don't know what the Trump campaign could be looking at in terms of their internal data. Kellyanne Conway is a smart pollster. I heard the sound piece that you just played.

What data are they relying on that would cause him in the Gettysburg speech, not address, that he made to say that it will be a priority to go and sue the women who have made those claims against him? Because if he's looking at data, like ABC's, that show that 69 percent do not like the way he's handled that issue, the last thing you would expect him to do is go on that stage on Saturday and lay down a legal gauntlet that, by the way, he'll never fulfill --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

SMERCONISH: -- and say I'm going to sue them all. I don't get it.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about a possible vulnerability, at least one that Donald Trump is hitting on, for Hillary Clinton. Michelle Obama, first lady, is going to be campaigning with Hillary Clinton on Thursday in North Carolina.

And Donald Trump has seized on something that Michelle Obama said in 2007 when then -- Barack Obama, senator, was running against Hillary Clinton. And Michelle Obama said something like if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House. And that was seen as a slight to whatever sordid past the Clintons had. Donald Trump is repeating this. Does it undermine Michelle Obama's message for Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail this week?

SMERCONISH: Sure, it undermines her message among all those who are already voting for Donald Trump. I'm sure it's a great applause line at his rallies in Naples, Florida yesterday, but where -- here's the same thing I've been saying to the two of you for months. Where does it expand the tent? There never was a pivot. There has never been any outreach whatsoever beyond the hard core that he already has, and this is in line with that criticism.

CAMEROTA: Michael Smerconish, always great to get your insight. Thanks so much for joining us.

SMERCONISH: See you, guys.

CAMEROTA: We're following a lot of news. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are going to drain the swamp of corruption.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The United States is bigger than Donald Trump.

TRUMP: Every woman lied. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You don't have to be a husband or a father to stand up for women. You just have to be a decent human being.

CONWAY: We are behind. She has tremendous advantages.

STELTER: This is shaping up to be one of the biggest media deals in history.

RANDALL STEPHENSON, CEO, AT&T: The ability to take really premium quality content to our customers in a mobile environment is huge for us. It's huge for our customers.

ROMANS: What is the biggest thing that they'll notice differently, you think?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, October 24th, 8:00 in the East now, and guess what? Finally, this election is about you.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump making closing arguments, going directly to voters and saying this is why they are best for your future. The state of play, not good for Trump. A new national poll shows Clinton with a big lead. Just over two weeks before Election Day. Those predictions are only as good as turnout.

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton intensifying her push into some red states, and she's even starting to focus on her transition team. We are only 15 days until Election Day, so let's begin our coverage with the man who has been counting the days, CNN's Jeff Zeleny. Good morning, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Hillary Clinton is heading to New Hampshire today but not just for herself. For the third straight day she's visiting a battleground state that also has a competitive Senate race. She is working to maintain her edge over Trump and trying to help Democrats win control of the Senate.

But this morning we're also learning she's looking ahead, taking more steps to plan what she increasingly believes will be her transition to the presidency.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: A two-week fight to the finish. It's time for closing arguments. Hillary Clinton striking an optimistic note.